Chapter 1002: Who Are You!?
Because of the bloodline aura that emanated off of him, everyone in the Fang Clan, including Meng Hao, could sense that... he was definitely not from the Ji Clan. He was definitely a member of the Fang Clan. Furthermore, the bloodline sense they felt indicated that he was older than almost all of the other clan members. He was incredibly ancient.
Meng Hao was shaken inwardly. This was the same type of feeling he had gotten from the corpse of the first generation Patriarch in the necropolis!
The entire ancestral mansion was completely quiet, and all clan members stared in shock.
Out in the Ninth Mountain and Sea, the Dao Realm Patriarchs of the various sects and clans were shaken. Their eyes opened wide, and expressions of shock could be seen on their faces. The feeling they got when looking at Fang Donghan was... one of complete terror and fright!
“Who...?” The Dao Realm Patriarchs all felt their faces flickering, and they began to pant. Actually, none of them had the slightest impression of Fang Donghan.
“Who are you?!” Fang Yanxu's face was pale, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood. His body was almost entirely black, as if some sort of curse power was spreading inside of him.
“Who am I?” asked Fang Donghan. Somehow, his expression exuded incredible archaicness.
“I'm Fang Daozi. I am... the eldest son of the first generation Patriarch. Have all you younglings of the Fang Clan forgotten about me?” [1. Fang Daozi’s name in Chinese is 方道子 Fāng dào zǐ - Dao is the same as “the Dao.” Zi is “son” or “child.” Actually, the Daozi is the same as what I usually translate as “Dao Child”]
The voice was like thunder striking against all of the Heavens.
His single statement shook all of the sects and clans of the Ninth Mountain and Sea. All who heard him, all of the cultivators who were watching, felt their minds battered by waves of shock.
“He’s... he’s... the eldest son of the Fang Clan’s first generation Patriarch?”
“That’s not possible! The Fang Clan’s first generation Patriarch was of the same era as Lord Ji. He died a long time ago, and his son couldn’t possibly have lived for so long!”
“Fang Daozi.... Fang Daozi.... Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I’ve read about that name in the ancient records of the Ninth Mountain and Sea.”
The cultivators were in an uproar. As for the Dao Realm Patriarchs, they looked on in wide-eyed shock. However, it didn’t take long for them to place the name.
“Fang Daozi!! I remember that in the earliest generation, there was someone by that name... who was personally killed by the first generation Patriarch. The reason was never made clear!”
“That person existed in an age far, far removed from our own? Is he really still alive?”
“What level has his cultivation base reached?”
Everyone outside the clan was shocked. Strangely, however, the members of the Fang Clan stared blankly. None of them had ever even heard of this eldest son of the first generation Patriarch.
It was almost as if there were no record of him in any of the clan’s histories at all. And yet, because of the bloodline sensation they got from him, they were certain about one thing. This Fang Daozi was absolutely, positively a member of the Fang Clan.
Furthermore, he had an ancient bloodline that was completely terrifying!
The Three Great Daoist Societies were shocked by this turn of events. They could never have imagined that a powerful expert like this would be hiding in the Fang Clan. Furthermore, his identity was shocking to the extreme. On top of all of that, he was colluding with the Ji Clan.
As Fang Daozi made his appearance on Planet East Victory, the Fang Clan’s Dao bell began to materialize in midair over the ancestral mansion. Then, it started to emit boundless light, and to toll.
That was... the tolling that could be heard when a clan member appeared with a very strong bloodline. After their identity was recorded in the bell, the resonance that formed caused the bell's tolling to ring out.
The sound shocked all of the members of the Fang Clan to the core, and confirmed that Fang Daozi... was definitely a member of the Fang Clan.
“What an annoying sound,” said Fang Daoizi, sighing. “It reminds me of that damned old man. Shut UP!” His eyes flickered with an intense light, and as he spoke, the Dao bell suddenly stopped tolling. It went completely silent.
Meng Hao stood there in the crowd, panting. He looked up at Fang Daozi up in midair, and his heart trembled. There was really no possible way he could ever have imagined that there would be such drastic upheavals and momentous events within the Fang Clan.
Obviously... these upheavals were closely connected to Fang Daozi.
The fighting between the clan members in the ancestral mansion had come to a halt. Everyone was completely shocked as they looked up into the air. Even the traitorous clan members weren’t really sure what was happening.
Pill Elder's face was pale white, and he fell back. Fang Yanxu wiped the blood from his face and glared down at Fang Daozi.
The three Quasi-Dao experts sighed in relief. After glancing fearfully at Fang Daozi, their eyes once again filled with the mad desire for destruction, and they glanced coldly at the hosts of cultivators in the Fang Clan.
“There really isn't anyone who remembers me?” Fang Daozi said with a sigh, his voice incredibly ancient. He then waved his hand and pointed up into the air.
His finger caused the sky to shatter. A huge boom echoed out as a massive vortex appeared. It began to spin, causing rumbling sounds to echo out as something became visible in the vortex.
Shockingly, everyone could see Ji Xiufang and Fang Shoudao fighting each other.
Ji Xiufang then started to laugh. She quickly moved, stepping into the vortex and then appearing in midair above Planet East Victory.
“Xiufang offers greetings, Senior,” she said with a sweet smile, bowing to Fang Daozi.
Fang Shoudao's face went very dark, and he pursued her into the vortex. After emerging from it, he turned to look at Fang Daozi, his eyes icy.
“Fang Shoudao,” Ji Xiufang said, smiling, “instead of looking at this as the Ji Clan attacking the Fang Clan, it would be better to say... that the Ji Clan is just paying back a favor to a Senior member of the Fang Clan.”
Fang Shoudao didn't respond. He clasped hands and bowed to Fang Daozi.
“Shoudao offers greetings, Patriarch Daozi.”
Fang Daozi looked over at Fang Shoudao and smiled.
“You’re a descendant from Old Third’s bloodline, right?” he said coolly. “You know, I’m very disappointed by the Fang Clan. After all these years, you only have two Dao Realm experts.... Well, since that's the case, I’m just going to have to disband the current Fang Clan, starting today!
“A new Fang Clan will begin on Planet East Victory, and I will lead it on a different path.” With that, he waved his right hand, causing miserable screams to rise up from the members of the Fang Clan. Only the traitorous members were unaffected. Everyone else felt their blood begin to boil, as if it were literally burning.
It was the same with Meng Hao. His blood began to boil, as if it wanted to explode out of him. Fang Danyun, Fang Yanxu and even Fang Shoudao all experienced the same thing.
Because of Fang Daozi, the entire clan instantly changed.
Meng Hao trembled, but endured the pain, his eyes shining with a strange light.
“Father definitely knew all of this was going to happen. He sent me here to Planet East Victory. Therefore... there must not be any real danger. The Fang Clan... must still have one more move left.”
Fang Shoudao was trembling. Considering the level of his cultivation base, he was incapable of stopping his blood from burning. From the feeling he got, Fang Daozi was in the Dao Realm, just like him. However, there was something completely unfathomable about him.
Fang Shoudao knew that in the Dao Realm, every additional Essence caused your cultivation base to experience drastic changes. A difference of one level was enormous, and yet, despite all this, Fang Shoudao’s expression didn’t reveal the slightest bit of alarm or shock. All he did was close his eyes.
That reaction caused Ji Xiufang to stare in shock. The alarm she felt in her heart continued to grow.
“For him to be so calm indicates that the Fang Clan hasn’t played all of their trump cards. Why is he so calm even when poised on the brink of destruction!?”
Even as shock filled Ji Xiufang’s heart, Fang Daozi caught sight of Fang Shoudao’s calmness, and his heart thumped. Gradually, an idea was forming within his mind that even he didn't dare to think was possible.
As soon as the idea flared up, he pushed it down. He was just about to wave his hand, when his body began to tremble. His face then flickered rapidly, and his eyes flashed as they sought out Meng Hao from within the crowds.
When he looked over, Meng Hao’s mind trembled. However, he clenched his jaw and looked back at Fang Daozi. Next to thim, the terracotta soldier’s eyes flickered, and it moved to stand in front of Meng Hao, exploding out with power to help protect Meng Hao. It raised its greatsword, seemingly ready to pay any price, even be crushed into dust, to keep Meng Hao safe.
It was at this point that Fang Daozi’s face fell. “No. He’s not here... he’s....”
All of a sudden, he turned to look toward the rift from which the terracotta soldier had emerged.
He was looking... through the rift into the Ancestral Land!
“Impossible!!” Fang Daozi’s eyes widened as if he was looking at something completely and utterly unbelievable. He began to pant, his casual attitude disappeared, and his ancientness suddenly seemed to vanish. Without even thinking about it, he stepped backward a few paces, his eyes turning crimson.
“Impossible!! This is completely impossible!!” He seemed to be going mad. He roared and extended his right hand, pointing toward the rift. It was at this point that, all of a sudden, three streams of Essence qi shot out from Fang Daozi, causing everything to shake. Planet East Victory trembled so violently it seemed as though it might collapse.
One of those streams was just like Fang Yanxu’s Essence of plants and vegetation. It was an Essence of boundless life force, and as soon as it appeared, the sky dimmed and a huge wind kicked up.
The origin and source of all things is Essence!!
A thorough understanding of Essence, mastery and control of the control of Essence, that is the Dao Realm!
In addition to the Essence of plants and vegetation, there was a stream of flickering lightning that emitted rumbling sounds. That was... the Essence of lightning, an indestructible lightning that could eternally destroy everything in Heaven and Earth. When it appeared, the lightning bolt seemed to replace all the light in the world.
The third of Fang Daozi’s Essence streams was, shockingly... an incredibly strong aura of Death. It was the will of the underworld and the Yellow Springs, a magic of reincarnation!
It was the Essence of reincarnation!
These terrifying Dao Realm Essences shot toward the rift, as if to completely destroy it.
However, even as the three streams of Essence neared the rift, a hand slowly stretched out from within. It waved a finger, and all of the Essences vanished. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust....
The hand was incredibly withered, as if it didn't contain an ounce of blood within it. It looked like an old, dead tree, and yet, power appeared within that finger. It was a power that could shock Heaven and Earth, and shook the minds of the Dao Realm experts of the Ninth Mountain and Sea.
Furthermore, unprecedented ripples spread out from the Ninth Mountain in that instant. It was as if there was someone in the Ji Clan who slept eternally... but had been awoken by the sudden appearance of that hand.
Fang Daozi’s body trembled, and his face went ashen. A wild look of disbelief appeared in his eyes.
“The Withered Tree Blossoms in Spring Incantation [1. This magic is based on a Chinese idiom which means “to get a new lease on life, to be revived].... Impossible. He's dead! I saw it happen with my own eyes! I felt him die! His Essence vanished, and his soul doesn’t exist anywhere in Heaven and Earth. He was never reborn into the Ninth Mountain and Sea.
“I'm absolutely certain, that... he really did die that year! He couldn't possibly be alive! Who are you? WHO ARE YOU!?!?” Fang Daozi’s heart was pounding, and he was filled with indescribable fear as he yelled, raving madly.